Nintendo Unveils New Console, Controller, Games at E3

LOS ANGELES — Nintendo closes out this year’s E3 Expo press conferences with a big question: What will the successor to the aging Wii be like?

[eventbug]The company’s next-gen hardware, dubbed the Wii U and unveiled at E3 here Tuesday, couldn’t come at a better time: Nintendo needs an HD console now that consumers are buying high-def TV sets. (Plus, Sony and Microsoft have pinched motion control for their PlayStation and Xbox 360 systems.)

So Nintendo, driver of innovation in the games business, needs something new that none of its competitors can claim. This new device is their big play. You can read Wired.com’s hands-on with Wii U for a deeper dive.

Also at E3: A version of Super Smash Bros. for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U that can play together was announced, alongside New Super Mario Bros. Mii, a Wii U game that will let you play with Mii characters, either on your TV or on the controller’s screen.

Nintendo also said it would release five big games for its 3DS handheld this year: Super Mario 3D, Luigi’s Mansion 2, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Mario Kart.

Wired.com’s live blog coverage of the event is below.

8:40 a.m. We’re in. Well, I’ve been in for a while. Things won’t kick off until 9 a.m., so we’re just killing some time right now imagining what it might be like if the conference was going on. Nintendo is good about keeping people roughly entertained, as it puts Nintendo trivia questions up on the screen while we wait.

8:46 a.m. As with our previous liveblogs, today’s will feature a veritable [poop]storm of live pictures from Jon Snyder, photographer par excellence. Please enjoy it. You will want some up-close glamor shots of Nintendo’s new console, I’m sure.

8:52 a.m. Getting close now. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see how third parties will use this new console to create all sorts of fresh, innovative shooters.

8:59 a.m. One minute remaining. If they start on time. Which, you know, they actually often do.

9:03 a.m. But not this year.

9:04 a.m. OK, what the heck is going on. A chorus is walking out. Wait, no, they are beginning with symphony orchestral performance of new Zelda music. WTF. This is awesome.

9:09 a.m. Music swells as the Zelda logo comes up. Biggest applause pop of the show. Bigger than Kobe Bryant! Miyamoto comes out onstage, introduced as the creator of Zelda. He has entrance music courtesy the orchestra.

9:05 a.m. It’s all over a video showing a history of Zelda games. Oh, right, they’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of Zelda this year. I’m liveblogging a concert.

9:06 a.m. A tiny bit of ticker tape just fell down from the ceiling. That means it’s either left over from something last night, or they are going to drop a bunch of paper on us at some point.

9:10 a.m. Talking up the 25th anniversary of Zelda. The song we heard was the theme song to Skyward Sword, the next Zelda game for Wii.

9:12 a.m. They’re having the orchestra play some of the classic Zelda musical phrases, like opening doors or treasure chests, or the melody from the fairy fountains in Ocarina of Time. This is cheap pageantry and I approve.

9:13 a.m. Somebody in the orchestra almost played the wrong thing! But they recovered.

9:14 a.m. First big announcement: Zelda: Link’s Awakening will go live on 3DS Virtual Console around the world starting today.

9:15 a.m. The four-player Zelda: Four Swords coming for DSiWare later this year — for free. Skyward Sword this holiday season. They’ll have a special gold Wii Remote with a Triforce logo on it.

9:18 a.m. Legend of Zelda Symphony concerts will be held around the world, in “each region” this fall. That is going to be great. I think that’s the first-ever U.S. Nintendo concert. Miyamoto isn’t done. Two music CDs will be released: Club Nintendo registrants will get the Ocarina 3D soundtrack. The other CD will be based on the symphony concerts and released in conjunction with Skyward Sword.

9:19 a.m. Even more Zelda 25th anniversary announcements coming later this year. Miyamoto invites some of the Zelda team onto the stage. Takashi Tezuka, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Eiji Aonuma, three of Miyamoto’s top men, take the stage and smile for the crowds.

9:21 a.m. Zelda anniversary portion ends with one final orchestral performance. The orchestra sinks down into the pit below, where they are promptly eaten alive by Moblins. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata takes the stage.

9:22 a.m. Iwata is talking about how Nintendo has begun to change the way people play, who they play with and how they play. “Some hardware is seen as appropriate for only the most passionate players. Others, like Wii, they say attract casual gamers.” What Nintendo has not achieved, he says, is a platform that is equally satisfying for hard-core and casuals. This is the intent of its new machine, Iwata says.

9:24 a.m. Iwata says they won’t show the system until later this morning. He just wanted to tease everyone, apparently. It will be out next year, he says. This year, there are new experiences for 3DS and “several franchises you know well” are moving into 3-D. Here we go, 3DS games … Mario Kart kicks it off.

9:26 a.m. That’s the whole sizzle reel. Does that mean those are our five games for this year? Reggie Fils-Aime comes out. “We hear you,” he says. “You want what you’ve always wanted but you also want something new.” Contradictions like that, he says, come with the territory. Is it even possible to deliver something for everyone? That’s what they’re aiming for with the new home console and with 3DS, he says.

9:28 a.m. These five games will be on the show floor. First is Mario Kart. It looks like Mario Kart. There are coins on the track, which is the kind of thing that some people will be really happy about. Apparently the karts can now open up a hangglider wing and glide through the course. They can also go underwater like submarines. This all happens automatically as you go through different territories. You can build your own karts and put things on them like giant wheels.

9:30 a.m. Mario Kart this holiday season. Now on to Star Fox 64 3D. You can use buttons or use motion control to fly. In multiplayer, you’ll see live streaming video of your opponents’ faces above their ships. Coming in September to the United States (and much earlier in japan, I would add).

9:32 a.m. First 3-D Mario game created from scratch for a portable system. Super Mario 3D includes Koopa Kid battles, the Tanooki Suit, airships — it’s like the revival of Super Mario 3 in 3-D, to an extent. It has flagpoles at the end of levels. It’s an interesting combo of 3-D graphics and somewhat 2-D gameplay. This will be out this year, too. (Or so they say!)

9:34 a.m. Kid Icarus: Uprising. Sakurai makes great trailers. Oh, the big announcement is it has four-player arena player-versus-player. That’s unexpected. Out later this year.

9:37 a.m. Finally, there’s Luigi’s Mansion 2, sequel to the cult classic GameCube launch title. I know at least one person reading this liveblog who is freaking out right now.

9;40 a.m. 3-D trailers for 10 games, including most of the ones we just talked about, will go up on 3DS this week.

9:42 a.m. Talking up old news, the free copy of Excitebike and Pokedex 3D. We know this! Let’s get to some news!

9:43 a.m. Still talking up eShop, Nintendo’s new online store, with no new updates. Of course, there is one more order of business, he says. He’s talking about the name “Wii.” This system is still for us, he says. But now it’s for you, too. So it’s called Wii U. Hm.

9:45 a.m. Nintendo is showing a video of how the controller might work. A million different things are going by all at once. It is impossible to describe them all. Basically, there’s a touchscreen in the controller that can be used in a million different ways. You can use it as a second view on the action, or just to play a game without having to use your TV set. People seem really impressed. I’ll have a lot more on this later.

9:52 a.m. Iwata back onstage to talk about the controller. It has a full range of buttons, so it can also play hard-core games. “Please understand that it is not designed to be a portable game machine,” he says.

9:53 a.m. The demos we just watched are only a few of the possibilities. Creating a “strong bond” between games, TV and the internet is a key desire of Nintendo’s, apparently. You can use the controller to do video chat while watching TV, he offers.

9:56 a.m. “We are facing an unusual situation. As a developer myself I also feel this. New ideas are popping up one after another, and we are not alone.” A few months ago, Iwata says he explained Wii U to Sakurai, creator of Kid Icarus. Sakurai wanted to make a Smash Bros. game for both 3DS and Wii U, making it work together on both platforms. No details yet, but that’s a big announcement.

10:01 a.m. Reggie is talking up some other uses of the controller. Announces New Super Mario Bros. Mii, a Mario game that will use Mii characters and let you play either on the TV or on the controller. He’s talking about some more games that, I can finally tell you, I have already played. You can read all about them in our Wii U hands-on preview right now.

10:04 a.m. Reel of developers talking about how much they like Wii U. They always do this, and then they don’t make any games for it. Hopefully we’ll see more. Darksiders II, Tekken, Batman Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon Online just announced in rapid fire. Ken Levine is up there. Come on, Ken, announce something.

10:09 a.m. John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, walks onstage. This is his first time doing an E3 appearance with Nintendo, he says. “What Nintendo’s new console delivers speaks directly to the players of EA Sports and EA games.” Imagine playing football, he says, using the little screen for calling plays and drawing routes. “Imagine a shooter like Battlefield with jaw-dropping graphics brought to you on a Nintendo system with that breakthrough controller.” Now imagine those games with an “open online functionality.” Content, gameplay and community that can be extended to social networks as well as the web. Do I have to imagine it, or is Nintendo actually improving their online that much? JR says it’s the best platform they’ve ever been offered by Nintendo.

10:14 a.m. Reggie is back onstage, talking up all the things Nintendo will be posting online during the show, in case you’re not here.

10:15 a.m. Conference over. Nintendo fills the screen with logos of games that will be on display. Apparently Kirby Wii is here, and so is Rhythm Heaven for Wii. And Mario Party 9. And Go Vacation, whatever that is. And Super Fossil Fighters. And Fortune Street, which must be Itadaki Street, that Square Enix board game. And The Rolling Western, whatever that is. But nowhere did I see a Xenoblade or The Last Story logo. I am sorry to have to be the one to break that to you. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, read that Wii U hands-on and stay tuned for more coverage from E3 later today.

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